Driver Held for Possible Deportation

| November 20, 2012 - 7:20pm

After a passing motorist called East Hampton Village police on the afternoon on Nov. 13 to report an erratic driver in a 2000 Oldsmobile van on Main Street, an officer began following the driver, Jose F. Jarama, 38, of East Hampton, who then made a sudden turn onto Mill Hill Lane, driving on the wrong side of the road. He pulled over when the officer activated his siren.
According to the report, the officer spotted a number of open cans of Budweiser beer in the car, some of them half-full, and asked the Mr. Jarama to perform roadside sobriety tests. He reportedly refused, and was charged with driving while intoxicated. Back at headquarters he also refused to take the Intoxilyzer 5000 breath test.
Normally such refusal results in one’s driving privileges being suspended in New York State, but such was not the case here, as Mr. Jarama was found to be driving without a valid license to begin with. His license had been suspended multiple times, police said. Additionally, they said, he had been convicted of D.W.I. in 2006 and had an outstanding warrant from East Hampton Town Court for failure to appear at a mandated 2011 court date.
Mr. Jarama wound up facing two D.W.I. felony charges and another felony charge of driving without a license, plus a misdemeanor D.W.I., two misdemeanor suspended-license charges, two alcohol-related violations, and two moving violations. His troubles were only just beginning, though. The Department of Homeland Security, after being notified of the arrest, asked that he be held for possible deportation proceedings.
In Amagansett early Saturday morning, a 27-year-old Bridgehampton woman, Simone K. Anderson-Chandler, was charged with drunken driving after an East Hampton Town officer spotted her westbound 2008 Honda driving halfway on the shoulder of Montauk Highway near Abraham’s Path.
When the patrol car’s overhead lights came on Ms. Anderson-Chandler stopped by the side of the highway, but as the police car pulled up behind her she put the car back in drive and slowly moved away along the shoulder. The officer then turned on her siren and Ms. Anderson-Chandler came to a complete stop, according to the report.
The officer had her step out of her car and perform the standard field sobriety tests, which she reportedly failed, leading to her arrest. At the stationhouse, she consented to take a breath test, which resulted in a blood-alcohol content reading over .08, the legal limit.
She was released later that morning without bail, with a future date in court to face the misdemeanor D.W.I. charge.